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Working full time and knowing literally no one who works for a pro team makes it hard for me to break news, but I can certainly react. Let’s take a look at what’s happened so far this off season.

December 8th

Boston Red Sox agree to terms with Mitch Moreland. Good for them. He can hit a little, but he isn’t a world beater.

The Cubs, Padres and Rangers made some minor league moves. Nothing of serious note at this point.

December 7th

The big news was five-fold. First, the Royals traded Wade Davis to the Cubs for Jorge Soler. The Yankees signed Matt Holliday to a one year deal. Aroldis Chapman signed with the Yankees. Adam Eaton was turning into some arms, and Carlos Gomez defected to Dallas. Let’s dig…

Wade Davis for Jorge Soler: Great deal. Wade Davis is one of my favorite players of all time. He helped win a World Series for my team. He is a mother fucker on the mound. But his arm is a liability, in my opinion. Better to get a really good young player for him now while his stock is at an all time high than keep him for sentimental reasons and have his arm go. I love Wade Davis, and I hate that he went to the fucking Cubs, but it’s a solid deal for everyone, although the Cubs are clearly shouldering the risk.

Aroldis Chapman and Matt Holliday to New York: This deal was for four years and $86M. That’s about $20 million too much. Especially since he worked so hard in the fall this year. I would have like this deal better at six years for the same money. But it’s the fucking Yankees so what do you expect?

The Holliday deal is smart. He belongs in the AL. It’s a solid bat who can play a field or DH.

Adam Eaton to Washington for Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning: Turning an aging outfielder into three 22 year old arms is a smart move by the Sox.

Carlos Gomez to Texas for one year: Fuck Carlos Gomez.

December 6th

There was one mega deal and a few smaller ones worth noting.

Chris Sale to Boston for RHPs Michael Kopech and Victor Diaz, INF Yoan Moncada and OF Luis Alexander Basabe. Great pick for the Sox (plural). The Whites are clearly rearming and the Reds are contenders. What a great trade.

The Phillies designated Michael Mariot for assignment and signed Joaquin Benoit to a one year deal. No real impact but I like Mariot.

December 5th

The Red Sox extended manager John Farrell’s deal. Houston continued their big off season by signing my second favorite player of all time Carlos Beltran to a one year deal, and The Dodgers signed Rich Hill to a three-year deal meaning he can now buy as many cats as he likes.

The Beltran deal is good but I think they overpaid. He could be fodder mid-year to a different contender, but I feel like Houston is the contender at this point.

The Giants signed Mark Melancon which could help their much shitty bullpen. I am too lazy to search the amount, but I know it’s a four year deal.

Rich Hill can be amazing but I think he’s weird, even for my standards. The deal was for three years, $48 million dollars and it makes absolutely no sense. There’s an excellent chance the Dodgers just wasted $45 million dollars. Holy shit, I can’t get over this fucking ridiculous contract. When will someone pay me for having a bunch of cats?

Steve Pearce also signed with the Blue Jays giving them a Ben Zobrist type but only he’s way worse at baseball than Ben Zobrist.

December 4th and 3rd

Nothing of note, but Seattle made a few modest deals.

December 2nd – A big day

The Braves signed Paco Rodriquez to a one year deal. If he screws his head on, they got him cheap this year. Less than $700K.

The Cubs signed Brian Duensing and let a bunch of shit go to free agency. Duensing is a veteran lefty out of the pen.

The White Sox signed Brett Lawrie and Avisail Garcia to one year deals. I wouldn’t give them anything longer than that.

The Twins extended Eduardo Escobar for another year. He’s okay.

The Brewers scooped up Scooter Gennett for a year.

December 1st

The Dodgers extended Scott Van Slyke for a year. Meh.

The Marlins picked up Eddie Volquez of the market. Was bummed the Royals didn’t make a qualifying offer to Eddie, even though it’s a good move to let him go. At least we would have gotten a compensatory pick for him. Love Eddie, hope he does really well in Miami, but glad we didn’t sign him. Although I think some of his issues last year were hangover from two long runs in the playoffs.

Several other teams signed some lesser free agents. No other big name deals.

November 30th

Couple of bigger deals. The Mets signed Cespedes to a four year deal front-loaded deal worth about $75 million. Okay. Whatever. He half-asses it too much for my tastes but he can be electric at times. They didn’t overpay, but I would have laced it with more incentives and less guarantee. Especially for a guy who gives up an inside the park home run on the first at bat of a World Series.

The Twins got a catcher by signing Jason Castro to three years. I didn’t see the deal, but he’s okay. No worse than Everyday Kurt Suzuki.

November 23

Houston signed the Scarlett Peen (Josh Reddick) to a four year, $52 million contract that I think will be really good for them. I like Reddick, dude has a cannon, and even if his bat is quiet, he’s a solid defender. Houston continues to scare the shit out of me.

November 21

The Cards signed Brett Cecil to a four year deal. Probably one year too long, but not a lot of three year deals signed anymore.

November 18

Blue Jays claim Kendrys Morales with a one year deal. Again, thank you Kendrys for doing the things you did, like eating less potato chips and hitting many bombs. This pleased me, and I am pleased you were on the team. And now goodbye, you are dead to me for signing with the Blue Jays. Fuck you.

November 17

The Braved picked up Bartolo Colon and RA Dickey. Combined 100 years experience pitching in the majors!

A few days earlier they signed Josh Collmenter to a one year deal. So they have some veteran arms next year for reasonable rates.

In today’s world of hot takes, fast takes, quick takes, rapid takes, speed takes, hot corner takes, instant takes, can-of-corn takes, Subway Fresh Takes and pronto takes, sometimes it’s also a little nice to sit back and process something before reacting. It’s a lost art, but it’s something I had to do with this Cubs World Series victory. After a good long week in which we absolutely got our asses kicked as a country, regardless of party affiliation, I had the following ten conclusions. Continue reading “What The Cubs Win Means To Me”→

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